- The Minister for Foreign Action and European Union visits Enagás accompanied by the Government representatives abroad as part of the meeting organised by the Ministry this week in Barcelona
The Catalan Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, visited the Enagás regasification plant and its mooring quay in the port of Barcelona this Friday, where she highlighted Catalonia's potential to become "the energy hub of southern Europe and, in the long term, the great hub of reference for green hydrogen on the continent". "Catalonia takes part of and actively contributes to a Europe that is moving towards energy sovereignty", said the Minister, who thanked the company's chairman, Antonio Llardén, for his welcome. "This infrastructure is the gateway to liquefied gas from southern Europe," she remarked.
Serret visited the Enagás facilities accompanied by the Government's representatives abroad as part of the meeting organised this week by the Ministry for Foreign Action and European Union in Barcelona to exchange best practices, define work plans and learn about the actions with international projection that the Government of Catalonia’s ministries are promoting. "This is a magnificent opportunity for the delegates to learn first-hand why Barcelona and Catalonia are of paramount importance on the European energy map", explained Serret from the facilities in the port of Barcelona, "an intermodal hub of reference that facilitates the opening up of our country to the world".
Minister Serret took the opportunity of the visit to highlight Catalonia's commitment as "a proactive and reliable partner for the European project" in shared geostrategic challenges, such as the energy crisis, which has been accentuated by the war in Ukraine. Catalonia is already participating in tackling these challenges, among others, with the European green hydrogen strategy. "Europe knows that Catalonia will always be there and that we contribute and add up to shared challenges", she insisted. An example of this is the Enagás regasification plant, which she described as "a fundamental and indispensable infrastructure for the present and future of Catalonia, but above all to consolidate the country as the great strategic point for European energy".
The President of the Government of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès i Garcia, already visited Enagás' facilities a few months ago to demand an interconnection that would allow energy to be distributed from Catalonia to the whole of Europe. The visit to Enagás also ties in with the recent meeting of President Aragonès and the Minister of Economy and Finance, Natàlia Mas, with the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, in Brussels, and with the announcement of the creation of an underwater pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille, the BarMar, which should strengthen the energy connectivity of the entire continent.
The Enagás regasification plant in Barcelona, which began operating in 1969, is the oldest in continental Europe. It is also the leading European terminal in terms of liquefied natural gas storage and regasification. The Barcelona plant has six tanks with a storage capacity of 760,000 m3 of liquefied natural gas and can receive ships with a capacity of up to 266,000 m3 of gas, the largest currently in existence. The visit was also attended by the Director-General for the Government’s Representation Abroad and the European Union, Gerard Vives.
Government delegations abroad: a consolidated, coordinated and useful network
Prior to the visit to Enagás, Minister Serret met with the Government delegates at the Palau de la Generalitat to take stock of the week. The head of the Ministry for Foreign Action and European Union expressed her gratitude to the representatives of the executive around the world, whom she considers "imperative for promoting powerful government action and generating credibility and reputation in the international sphere". Serret conveyed to them the mission of "being useful to the citizens" and asked them to act with "rigour and coordination".
The Minister also positively valued the announcement of the elimination of the crime of sedition and assured that "it is proof that work is being done to move forward", and added that "we will continue working along these lines in the international arena as well, always defending democratic rights and freedoms to resolve the existing political conflict". The session included interventions by the delegates, who shared their proposals for maximising the impact of external projection and placed their resources and knowledge at the disposal of the executive.